Voorbereidende vergadering EU-VS over Justitie in Vilnius in aanloop naar top in december (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Litouws voorzitterschap Europese Unie 2e helft 2013 i, gepubliceerd op woensdag 24 juli 2013.

On 24 July, in Vilnius, the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (US) Justice and Home Affairs senior officials meeting is being held. The EU and the US senior officials discuss the mutually topical issues of cooperation in the area of justice and home affairs. This meeting is dedicated to the preparation for the EU and US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial meeting, which will be held in December of 2013 in Washington.

During the first session of the meeting, which is dedicated to the justice issues, the progress achieved in the negotiations between the EU and US regarding umbrella agreement on data protection will be reviewed.

Much attention will be paid to the EU and US cooperation in the fight against illegal drugs and psychoactive substances as well as preparation for high-level multilateral meetings on this topic. The officials plan to discuss the issues of judicial cooperation and the rights of the victims of crimes, and the best practices and future actions for development of the policy regarding the disabled persons will be presented, too.

The second part of the meeting will be dedicated to the Home Affair issues. The participants will discuss mobility, border management and migration issues. The EU and the US will share information about the recent achievements in the area of cyber security and the fight against cyber crime, issues of the fight against-terrorism and ensuring of public safety will be also discussed.

The meeting is to be closed by the representatives of the forthcoming Greek presidency who will present the priorities in the area of justice and home affairs.

Senior officials of Justice and Home Affairs from Lithuania, the United States and Greece are taking part in this meeting as well as representatives of the European Commission, the EU Council General Secretariat and other relevant EU agencies and institutions.

This is a regular EU-US officers meeting, which is arranged once every six months by the EU Council presidency.